(Motorsport-Total.com) – The debut of the new Aston Martin AMR26 at free practice in Budapest (follow live in the ticker here) was eagerly awaited, but the upgrade only made headlines with a crash by Lance Stroll: The Canadian’s left rear suspension simply broke and sent him into a spin.
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At least: With 13th place and “only” 2.475 seconds behind, Fernando Alonso was significantly further ahead than in previous races.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the first session, being the quickest in 1:19.075 minutes, but rolled out with a problem at the pit lane entrance a few minutes before the end and had to be pushed back to the garage by his mechanics.
Half a second behind him was Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, with Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton in third. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) in fourth and George Russell (Mercedes) in fifth were already almost a second off the pace. World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) was not on the grid, just like Oscar Piastri (McLaren).
Audi, however, had a good first session: both Gabriel Bortoleto (6th) and Nico Hülkenberg (8th) were able to clearly place in the top 10. One of the five rookies deployed, Frederik Vesti (Mercedes), slotted in between the two Audi drivers. The last positions went – as so often – to the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson.
The most important things in brief:
Result: 1st Free Practice in Budapest
Photos: Hungarian Grand Prix 2026
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Which Friday drivers were present?
In total, five regular drivers were not on the grid: Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli was in the car for Oscar Piastri at McLaren, and World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli sat out for Mercedes – the Dane Frederik Vesti drove for him.
Franco Colapinto also had a break, as the Estonian Paul Aron was allowed to take a seat in the Alpine this time after his two appearances for Audi. At Haas, Ryo Hirakawa drove for Oliver Bearman, and at Cadillac, Colton Herta for Valtteri Bottas.
The fastest of the youngsters was Vesti, who managed to place seventh in the top 10 and was four tenths slower than regular driver George Russell.
For all others, only back positions remained: Fornaroli finished 16th (+2.815) directly ahead of Hirakawa (+2.926). Aron was 19th (+3.093), and Herta finished 20th (+4.043) – ahead of Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz.
How did the revamped Aston Martin’s debut go?
Mixed. Sportingly, the update was quite convincing, as Fernando Alonso was significantly better placed than in previous races with 13th place and 2.475 seconds behind. However, the car was also responsible for the negative highlight of the session.
Because: The also revised rear suspension simply gave up on Lance Stroll about 20 minutes before the end of the session. Accelerating out of Turn 2, the left rear suspension broke, sending the Canadian into a wild spin.
Stroll was able to catch the spin in the asphalt run-off area of Turn 3, but had to park his car on the spot. For him, the practice was over.
Which spot was the biggest problem area?
Already in the support series, many drivers had problems in Turn 1. Many drivers braked too late at that spot and went straight with smoking tires. Carlos Sainz was hit the worst ten minutes before the end, even sliding slightly sideways into the run-off area and coming to a stop with a complete flat spot.
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Only after a few seconds could the Williams driver continue his drive. Sainz had a turbulent session anyway, in which he came under the scrutiny of the stewards twice for erratic driving, received a black and white flag for blocking, and finished last with more than 4.6 seconds behind.
Were there any other problems?
At least no driver had to spend a long time in the garage this time. However, seven minutes before the end, Charles Leclerc reported a problem: “Something broke,” he radioed as he drove into the pits.
He didn’t get far there, but stopped right at the entrance, where he had to be picked up by his mechanics, who had to push him towards the garage.
Why are Sainz and Verstappen facing trouble?
Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen have to answer to the stewards for erratic driving. Already in the first minutes of the session, Verstappen caught up with a slow Williams before the approach to Turn 12. At the exit of the slow right-hand corner, he overtook Sainz and gesticulated wildly in his direction.
“Yes, unbelievable, these guys. That was really extremely dangerous. He even fully hit the brakes,” Verstappen promptly complained over the radio. Sainz soon discovered the cause of the obstruction himself: due to a loose cable, radio contact with the team had temporarily broken off.
Nevertheless, the Spaniard also has to answer to the race stewards. In addition, Sainz has to explain a second incident that occurred towards the end of practice in Turn 9. Here, however, the Williams driver was the victim: Alpine reserve driver Paul Aron was creeping on the racing line while Sainz was approaching on a fast lap.
Out of obvious frustration, Sainz slowly pushed driver Aron off the track at the exit of the corner. This promptly earned him a second appointment with the stewards during the break between Free Practice 1 and 2.
What’s next at the Hungarian Grand Prix 2026
At 5 PM, the second free practice session is scheduled. Unlike usual, there will be no livestream on the Formel1.de YouTube channel on Friday – that will only be the case on Saturday and Sunday.
Formula 1 Saturday (July 25) in Budapest begins at 12:30 PM with the third and final free practice session. Qualifying for Sunday’s race follows at 4 PM. Kevin Scheuren and Kevin Hermann will report from 9 PM in the YouTube livestream and discuss all important topics regarding qualification.
On Sunday (July 26), the race start at the Hungaroring is scheduled for 3 PM. At 9 PM, Kevin Scheuren and Kevin Hermann will start their Grand Prix analysis. As always, channel members can ask their questions live.
For all information on streams and TV broadcasts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, please refer to our current overview. Details on the weather forecast can be found in our preview.
First, the summer break is now approaching, before the race in Zandvoort continues in four weeks at the end of August. (See the 2026 race calendar here!)
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